hearinghttp://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/10778/all
enScience On Trial In America As Courts and Congress Grapple with Industry Pollutionhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2013/12/15/science-trial-america-week
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/law%20money.jpg?itok=lyyW26PV" width="200" height="200" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Both the science behind climate change and the efficacy of life-saving safety standards from the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Environmental Protection Agency (<span class="caps">EPA</span>) had a trying week in Washington, D.C., as industry-backed lawsuits and politicians attempted to undermine the entire scientific community.</p>
<p>The <span class="caps">EPA</span> is currently <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/192438-week-ahead-epa-in-crosshairs-of-federal-courts">battling two major legal obstacles</a> in the courts over the agency's authority to enact and enforce provisions of the Clean Air Act. This is a power that the <a href="http://www.bna.com/supreme-court-decision-b17179878188/"><span class="caps">U.S.</span> Supreme Court had already ruled</a> was not only within the agency’s jurisdiction, but a duty that it had to perform for the American public.</p>
<p>One of the legal battles took place at the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Court of Appeals for the <span class="caps">D.C.</span> Circuit, where the <span class="caps">EPA</span> defended its work to limit the amount of mercury and arsenic that energy companies are allowed to release into the air. <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/media/2013/131210.asp">According to <span class="caps">NRDC</span></a>, these health standards that <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059991518">are under attack from the dirty energy industry</a> have the potential to save as many as 45,000 lives a year.</p>
<p>Based on the <span class="caps">D.C.</span> Circuit’s previous rulings regarding the Clean Air Act, it is likely that the <span class="caps">EPA</span> will be the victor in this case. </p>
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<p>In 2008, the <span class="caps">D.C.</span> Circuit <a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2008/2008-02-08-01.asp">castigated the <span class="caps">EPA</span> for failing to develop mercury emission standards</a>, as required by the Clean Air Act. So the industry's attempt to challenge the agency for actually following the Court’s orders seems unlikely to go in the industry’s favor. The Circuit Court had also <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059991518">admonished the former Bush administration for their lack of efforts</a> to protect the public health with their cross-state pollution rules. </p>
<p>And it is the same issue of cross-state air pollution that sets the stage for the <span class="caps">EPA</span>’s other judicial fight. Earlier this week, the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Supreme Court heard arguments from <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/epa-rules-on-interstate-air-pollution-get-warm-supreme-court-reception/2013/12/10/5bebbdc8-61cd-11e3-bf45-61f69f54fc5f_story.html">a team of lawyers representing the dirty energy industry</a> and the <span class="caps">EPA</span> on whether or not the agency has the authority, and the ability, to monitor cross-state air pollution. The question at hand is whether or not the pollution can be traced back to its original source – without a confirmed source, there can be no liability.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/epa-rules-on-interstate-air-pollution-get-warm-supreme-court-reception/2013/12/10/5bebbdc8-61cd-11e3-bf45-61f69f54fc5f_story.html">The Washington Post explains</a> the issue in the case:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule affects mostly the eastern two-thirds of the country and requires power plants in more than two dozen states to clean up nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide pollution that contribute to soot and smog elsewhere.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">According to the <span class="caps">EPA</span>, eliminating the pollution would prevent 13,000 to 34,000 premature deaths and 15,000 non-fatal heart attacks as well as decrease emergency room visits and the number of respiratory disease episodes.</p>
<p>Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/epa-rules-on-interstate-air-pollution-get-warm-supreme-court-reception/2013/12/10/5bebbdc8-61cd-11e3-bf45-61f69f54fc5f_story.html">recused himself from this case</a>, leaving the Court split 4 to 4 on ideological lines. The case <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059991518">is predicted</a> to go in favor of the <span class="caps">EPA</span>, largely due to Alito’s absence taking away a certain vote in favor of the industry.</p>
<p>Both of these cases are backed by science showing that air pollution can be deadly, and that reducing this pollution is a no-brainer when it comes to the health and safety of the American public. But inconvenient science has never stood in the way of the industry’s agenda, and that has opened up an opportunity for them to take their case all the way to Congress.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Energy <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/11/gop-holds-factual-climate-hearing-and-decides-half-of-scientists-are-global-warming-deniers/">held a hearing</a> in which subcommittee chairman Lamar Smith (R-<span class="caps">TX</span>) invited a climate change denier to cast doubt on the science of climate change.</p>
<p>During the hearing, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/11/gop-holds-factual-climate-hearing-and-decides-half-of-scientists-are-global-warming-deniers/">members of Congress were fed denial whoppers</a> that included a claim by University of Alabama professor <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/john-christy">John Christy</a> that only 52% of scientists believe in man-made climate change. <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/11/gop-holds-factual-climate-hearing-and-decides-half-of-scientists-are-global-warming-deniers/">According to Raw Story</a>, there was only one witness called during the hearing who appeared to believe that anthropogenic climate change not only existed (he pointed out that more than 97% of peer-reviewed scientific research on the subject confirmed it), but that it was a threat.</p>
<p>Subcommittee <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&amp;type=C&amp;cid=N00001811&amp;newMem=N&amp;recs=20">Chairman Lamar Smith has taken in more than $550,000</a> from the oil and gas industries, his second largest industry campaign contributor.</p>
<p>It's unlikely that anything will come from Rep. Smith’s circus of a hearing, but it will solidify his position as a worthy recipient of dirty energy industry cash. It also shows that science, in all forms, is facing some very serious attacks in America, and the attackers all have one thing in common — significant funding from Big Oil.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/science">Science</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7165">court</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/us-supreme-court">US Supreme Court</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1226">clean air act</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/14674">Challenge</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6039">air pollution</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/epa">EPA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/13621">Lamar Smith</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10778">hearing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6079">Money</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5692">Industry</a></div></div></div>Sun, 15 Dec 2013 22:17:56 +0000Farron Cousins7689 at http://www.desmogblog.comSupertankers, Earthquakes, and Tsunamis, Oh My: Enbridge Has No Spill-Response Plan for Northern Gateway Pipelinehttp://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/30/pipelines-supertankers-and-earthquakes-oh-my-enbridge-has-no-spill-response-plan-northern-gateway-pipeline
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Earthquakes%20in%20Canada.jpeg?itok=18CzHJgY" width="200" height="154" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Earlier this month British Columbians were surprised to hear that Enbridge, the main proponent of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline, was unable to explain how the company's world-class spill prevention and clean up practices were either world-class or preventative.</p>
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At a <a href="http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2012/10/bc-cross-examination-enbridge-answers-leave-more-questions.html">public hearing</a> in Prince George, Enbridge failed to instill confidence in the audience, admitting the company had no land-based spill prevention plan at all. During cross-examination the company admitted<a href="http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2012/10/bc-cross-examination-enbridge-answers-leave-more-questions.html"> they will not have a spill-response plan</a> until six months before the proposed pipeline would begin operation.<br /><br />
The company was unable to explain how they would respond to land-based spills from a pipeline designed to cover 1,172 km, crossing more than 770 of British Columbia's pristine watercourses. </div>
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<span class="caps">BC</span> Environment Minister <a href="http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2012/10/bc-cross-examination-enbridge-answers-leave-more-questions.html">Terry Lake said</a> “the responses that Enbridge/Northern Gateway representatives are giving our legal counsel are long on promises, but short on solid evidence and action to date,” adding, “the company needs to show British Columbians that they have practical solutions to the environmental risks and concerns that have been raised. So far, they have not done that.”</div>
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Enbridge will be cross-examined regarding maritime spill prevention in Prince Rupert on November 22, less than one month after the town was on <a href="http://www.thenorthernview.com/news/176333491.html">high emergency alert </a>after the <a href="http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/recent_eq/2012/20121028.0304/index-eng.php">second largest earthquake in Canada's history</a> threatened coastal towns with tsunami warnings. The 7.7 magnitude quake put the entire Pacific Northwest on tusnami alert, with late-night sirens prompting regional evacuations from Alaska to Hawaii.</div>
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The October 27 earthquake is a poignant reminder of the unique maritime challenges posed by British Columbia's untamed west coast, a region of rugged terrain, narrow passages, and rocky shores overlying one of the most temperamental fault lines in the world.</div>
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The quake struck off the coast of Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte islands) about 17.5 km underwater. </div>
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Bearing a striking resemblance to <a href="http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/histor/20th-eme/1949-eng.php">Canada's worst earthquake</a>, which hit in 1949, Saturday's seismic event did not come as a surprise to those familiar with the region's subterranean geography. The 8.1 magnitude quake in 1949 caused a 500-km long piece of the Queen Charlotte fault (the Pacific's version of the San Andreas fault) to break. When this <a href="http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/histor/20th-eme/1949-eng.php">historic quake</a> hit the Haida Gwaii cows were knocked from their feet, an oil tank collapsed in Cumshewa Inlet, and residents said standing on the street felt like being on the “heaving deck of a ship at sea.” One geologist described falling during the quake and being unable to get back up. Windows shattered in Prince Rupert. </div>
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This particular earthquake zone is a <a href="http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-historique/caneqmap-eng.php">hotbed of faultline activity</a>, one of the only places in the world where tectonic plates slide past each other, collide and diverge. Usually fault lines only exhibit only one of these movements. This Pacific region is <a href="http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-historique/caneqmap-eng.php">Canada's most earthquake-prone zone</a>.</div>
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Saturday's quake has given cause to reconsider not only the threats posed by the pipeline Enbridge plans to build from Bruderheim, Alberta to Kitimat, <span class="caps">BC</span>, but also the dangers of supertanker traffic along a volatile coastline.</div>
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“I think we have all been complacent about what happens, or what can potentially happen, with an earthquake,” Haisla Nation Chief Councillor <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/quake-raises-more-northern-gateway-concerns/article4752814/">Ellis Ross told the Globe and Mail</a>.</div>
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“We have to think about that in the context of supertankers carrying crude oil in Douglas Channel or outside Hartley Bay or outside Haida Gwaii. … I think that has to be part of the discussion.”</div>
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Enbridge spokesman Todd Nogier downplayed the risks earthquakes pose to supertanker traffic, saying tsunami dangers would be mitigated by the <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-quake-raises-northern-gateway-concerns/article4752814/">Douglas Channel's deep and wide waterways</a>. <a href="http://tcktcktck.org/2012/08/enbridge-video-erases-islands-in-the-way-of-the-northern-gateway-pipeline/30655">Enbridge infamously misrepresented the Douglas Channel </a>in a Northern Gateway commercial that removed 1000 km2 of hazardous islands that dominate the proposed supertanker highway.</div>
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Of particular concern to <span class="caps">BC</span> residents is the unique danger tar sands' oil poses to marine ecosystems. </div>
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Oil from Alberta's tar sands is a heavy, viscous crude called bitumen. In order to transport the thick, tarry oil from Alberta through pipelines, bitumen must be diluted. The resulting mixture of diluted bitumen or '<a href="http://thecanadian.org/item/1685-ray-grigg-dilbit-silence">dilbit</a>' is a corrosive blend of thick oil and benzene, naphtha, hydrogen sulphide and other toxic chemicals.</div>
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In July 2010, a ruptured <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/2012/08/10/pol-the-house-oil-spill-report-missing-northern-gateway-hearings.html">Enbridge pipeline spilled 3.3 million litres of dilbit</a> into a tributary of the <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/aswift/kalamazoo_one_year_later_anato.html">Kalamazoo River</a> in Michigan. What responders learned there was that dilbit, unlike conventional crude, tends to sink in water after a certain amount of time, making clean-up efforts expensive and difficult - <a href="http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2012/10/07/enbridge-kalamazoo-cleanup/">if not impossible</a>. </div>
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The cleanup in Michigan has been the most expensive on-shore spill effort in <span class="caps">U.S.</span> history, already <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/08/10/pol-the-house-oil-spill-report-missing-northern-gateway-hearings.html">exceeding $800 million</a>. The toxic spill, which spread for kilometers through connecting waterways, seeped into the riverbed, meaning remediation efforts have decimated the local ecology. Along large segments of the river, cleanup crews have literally dug up and removed contaminated portions of the riverbed.</div>
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<a href="http://thecanadian.org/item/1685-ray-grigg-dilbit-silence">Estimated cleanup costs</a> for conventional oil run at about $2000 per barrel. Bitumen clean up efforts run a tally of an estimated $29,000 per barrel. </div>
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In August, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (<span class="caps">DFO</span>) <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/enbridge-cleanup-plan-does-not-take-bitumen-into-account/article4500233/">criticized Enbridge</a> for failing to consider the unique composition of dilbit and the threat the mixture poses to waterways. Dr. Kenneth Lee, head of <span class="caps">DFO</span>'s Centre for Offshore Oil and Gas Energy Research (<span class="caps">COOGER</span>), complained Enbridge's pipeline plan had “strong limitations due to inaccurate inputs.”</div>
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“The Northern Gateway pipeline proposal lacks key information on the chemical composition of the reference oils used in the hypothetical spill models.”</div>
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Dr. Lee sought approval to study the “toxic effects of reference oils to marine species” in relation to Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal. <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/enbridge-cleanup-plan-does-not-take-bitumen-into-account/article4500233/">According to the Globe and Mail</a>, the <span class="caps">DFO</span> would not say whether Dr. Lee's proposal was approved, although Dr. Lee confirmed his research position had recently been threatened by federal government budget cuts. </div>
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It remains to be seen how Enbridge will respond to inquires regarding maritime spill prevention and cleanup on November 22.</div>
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One can only hope they come prepared this time - although preparation isn't their strong suit.</div>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6566">Earthquake</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10775">fault line</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10776">haida gwaii</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10777">tsunami</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5542">supertanker</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5538">bitumen</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6232">Spill</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5006">oil spill</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7761">Kitimat</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6584">pipeline</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5534">Northern Gateway Pipeline</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4389">Enbridge</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10778">hearing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10779">Terry Lake</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10780">emergency response</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8965">pacific northwest</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10781">Queen Charlotte fault</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10782">seismic event</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10783">October 27</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9008">evacuation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10784">Joint Panel Review</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10785">pipeline hearings</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9056">Prince Rupert</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10786">spill clean up</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10787">sill prevention</a></div></div></div>Tue, 30 Oct 2012 20:39:03 +0000Carol Linnitt6623 at http://www.desmogblog.com